Conventional flexography is a printing process which uses a flexible relief plate instead of a rigid relief plate. Flexography is commonly used in the packaging industry and in label printing because of excellent print quality, larger substrate latitude, efficiency, large color gamut, and low ink costs. Flexography has a high engine unit manufacturing cost (UMC) and a relatively low run cost. However, run costs increase for short runs (less than ˜2000 prints) or with variable data due to the need to make a new image plate for each run.
For short runs, flexography competes with two other commonly used digital printing platforms, xerography and solid inkjet printing. Xerographic printing involves multiple steps including charging of the photoreceptor and forming a latent image on the photoreceptor; transferring and fusing the developed image onto a substrate medium (such as paper); and erasing and cleaning the photoreceptor. Although xerographic printing is a mature technology, the engine UMC is still high, as is the run cost.
Solid inkjet printing (SIJ) is another printing technology which is now serving the office color market and is working towards the production color market. SIJ uses solid ink sticks instead of the fluid ink or toner powder usually used in xerography printers. The ink stick is melted and is used to jet the image on a substrate, similar to conventional inkjet printing. Challenges to mastering SIJ include high unit UMC and high run cost.
It would be desirable to develop digital flexographic printing systems and methods which reduce engine UMC and run cost.